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For most of history, the beginning of the universe has been
understood through the many myths offered in various
cultures. But in the modern age, scientific cosmology
has emerged to offer new explanations for the beginning and
evolution of the universe. By 1900, religious and scientific
conceptions of creation were widely seen as incompatible.
In
the 15th century, Nicholas of Cusa anticipated modern
relativistic physics by suggesting that the universe has no
center, no circumference, and no beginning or end. In the 20th
century, Edwin Hubble used statistical analysis to prove
that the universe is infinite.
Modern
cosmology suggests that there are 200 billion billion stars
in the universe, including a variety of structures such as the
nova, supernova, nebula, quasar, white dwarf, neutron star,
pulsar, and black hole. The behavior of stars is
governed by the physics of nuclear combustion and gravitation;
our theories about stars depend upon advances in particle physics
to explain the nuclear reactions that appear to explain star
behavior.
Edwin
Hubble also discovered that the universe is expanding, which
tended to confirm the conception that the universe began with
a "big bang". Various theories have suggested that the
universe either is in a steady state, that it is inflating,
that it may be oscillating, or perhaps even winding
down.
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